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What to do if you specify the wrong part?

What to do if you specify the wrong part?

What to do if you specify the wrong part?

(OP)
This has yet to happen to me, but I have no doubt that it happens all the time.

Suppose you are the engineer and you specify the wrong thing - perhaps it is a bunch of wood column caps. The contractor orders them, and now they don't perform their intended purpose and it's your fault.

What do you do?

RE: What to do if you specify the wrong part?

Prepare 3 envelopes?

I'd imagine that you'd start by seeing if you can send them back. Of course, then there's the matter of a probably schedule slip.

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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
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RE: What to do if you specify the wrong part?

If the parts cannot be employed as intended or elsewhere on the project, you would likely have to eat the cost / return fee either directly or via your errors and omissions insurance. It's scary but the responsibility for being perfect is why compensation for structural engineering consulting services is so crazy lucrative.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

RE: What to do if you specify the wrong part?

dreber - I had first hand experience on both sides of your hypothetical question. Three years into my career, I was in the situation you describe. Twenty years later was the opposite experience - involvement in obtaining a settlement from an Engineer who made serious mistakes.

To get the big picture, suggest taking a look at what is probably the most famous case in modern engineering history... Mr. William LeMessurie and his 1970's Citicorp tower design. What Mr. LeMessurie did is considered a model for projects large and small. Here is a summary:
http://www.onlineethics.org/cms/8888.aspx

www.SlideRuleEra.net idea
www.VacuumTubeEra.net r2d2

RE: What to do if you specify the wrong part?

In a lot of cases, stuff that is specified wrong will get corrected in the shop drawing/approvals stage when people start trying to figure out how to make stuff work before they actually order it.

RE: What to do if you specify the wrong part?

What part of the construction phase are you:

Design drawings competed and submitted?
Shop Drawing Review?
End of construction?
Structure is in service?

The first two are easy, make the changes necessary and move on. The last tow are a little more difficult, however, If something needs to be repaired.... better to go to the client with a solution to the problem... not just a problem. This can be taken directly from the LeMessurier example given by SlideRuleEra.

RE: What to do if you specify the wrong part?

As was mentioned, this usually gets caught before things are purchased if the contractor and/of architect is paying attention.
I had to cough up a grand once to pay for some lintels.

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